Doghouse running now?
 

I was tooling down the highway today and saw bits and pieces of what looked like a solar panel. Did Doghouse finally get out on the road?

Let me tell you what,...my solar panels will be the last thing that fall off this truck,...I went above and beyond the manufacturer specs on mounting hardware.
Now,...the rest of the truck,....a few problems have come up;
1.Left steer bearings/wasted inner oil seal, and oil drenched brake shoes.
2.Alternator needs to be aligned so it stops eating belts.
3.Fan clutch solenoid is shorted out.
4.I had to get a 4' breaker bar and a 1"drive torque wrench just to put my centramatics on.
5.Rewire entire taillight assembly.
Once I get this done,....I can finally get on the road and take a freakin' 10 hour nap :!:

dang,,,thats gonna nickel n dime you to death

Yeah, the parts are adding up, its a good thing I'm doing the repairs myself, or it would be very expensive.
We had a decent offer on our last house for sale, so I may wait until the deal is sealed to go out, and that gives me more time to finish up the repairs without killing myself.

Have you ever heard of the syndrome where college students keep going back and taking more and more majors just to stay in school and there by delaying thier going into the real world?.......come on Doggie get out here we can't wait to see ya :D we can't feed,cloth,and shelter all these people by ourselves we need your help. :lol:

Good job on that. The real estate market down here is brutal though I guess not as bad in your part as where I am. Many people are truly going to be in a world of hurt if things keep going the way they are going. I'm hoping like crazy this Super Exemption thing passes in January. If I can lower these taxes I'll be much better off.

I was home the other day for a couple of days and I got to talking with the water guy from the city who was in my community, man they are shutting people's water off like crazy.

Sorry your having so many problems there Dogbone. I would consider myself lucky that all these things happened now. I'm sure you actually do.

Your like the new movie Rocky IXXIVXXI that we are all waiting to be released.

Are you anywhere near Spring Hill in Florida. I'm heading down that way at the end of this month then going to drive around for a week. If your around, I'll stop by and give you pointers on how to find those elusive $1.20 loads. I'm pretty good at finding them.

Hey doghouse, about your solor panel I guess you have some deep cycle battires for this setup? If you do, is there a way to calulate how long you can draw down the battires, before recharging. I was thinking about buying a cheap A/C unit from walmart about 5000 btu, the specs said it was like 660 watts and abour 6.2 amps. I have a 1500 watt surge 750 contiuns inverter. was wondering if there is a way to calulate how long I could run this unit before I would need to rechage the batterys. I was thinging of using 2 or 3 batterys with an isolation switch to keep from draining the truck batterys. most batterys have like cold cranking amps I don't anyting about deep cycle batterys. thanks

I don't think 5000 btu will have any effect on cooling your cab. A normal car A/C is close to 20,000 btu. Try an experiment and stack up some stuff high enough to put the A/C through the passenger side window then plug it into an outlet or an extension cord. You may change your mind. You can also plug the A/C into your inverter and just leave it on the ground outside running and keep trying to start you engine every 1/2 hour to get an idea how long you can run for. Keep in mind though, if you keep draining your batteries down your alternator will take a hike real quick from having to recharge your drained batteries.

They sell 9200 btu rv air conditioners.

Thank steve & person for your reply, I had know idea that auto A/C's had that much cooling capicity (btu's) on a hot summer day probly could not cool the cab. But what about after dark after the sleeper's air has cooled it down I wonder if it could maintain the temp. then. any larger A/C I think would require a generator. Thanks for the input.

Hey all,
Merrick,
the housing market here in St Petersburg is not that good either, I just happen to owe very little on this house, so I was able to lower my asking price and still clear a $95,000 profit. As far as any tax breaks,...I'm not holding my breath,...it probably won't filter down to us for a year or two.

Steve & Mike
Yeah tell me about it, I want to get out there so bad,...I've been sleeping in the truck :lol: :lol: , and all the stuff that's broken would have led to major breakdowns on the road, so I'm glad to have caught them before I started. This truck has 925,000 miles on it and I neglected to inspect the systems that I have found in need of repair. Working on this thing is really not that much different than the farm machinery I grew up fixing in NY.
$1.20,...sorry Steve O, Gman said my truck won't even start for that price :lol:
I'm hoping to be out by the end of this month, but you never know.

sod,
I have 4 huge 6volt batteries, and they will only run my RV roof mount A/C for about 4 hrs before my genset fires up.(they will run all the other systems for 5 days)
If you are going to try this, I would go with at least 6-6volt batteries (separate from the truck batteries), wire them series/parallel, and run then through a RS 2000 xantrex inverter, and depending on the roof of your truck (mines flat so the panels are almost undetectable) cheap solar panels are going to run you $700.00 a piece
Be prepared though, the cost for this system will be around $6,000.

A 5,000 BTU will cool your cab, but not very efficiently and it will always run on the high setting which will draw your batteries down even faster.
In inverter, even though they claim that the surge capacity should handle start up loads,....will not, and you should over size your inverter. Get the largest one you can find,..you will be disappointed in the performance of a 1,500 watt surge unit, to start an A/C unit, I would go no lower than a 3,000 watt surge.

OT:

Sod, I've posted a few links regarding this.

If you want the BEST batteries money can buy, get the odyssey pc2150.

The way you measure "storage" of the battery is amp-hours.

http://www.odysseyfactory.com/specs.htm

pc2150 is the group 31.

It can sustain 10 amps for 10 hours before voltage drops to 10. You can still charge in the summer at 10 volts, but it can be tough on your equipment.

X4 = 40 amps for 10 hours straight. 40 amps X 12 volts = 480 watts for 10 hours straight.

You do *NOT* want a cheap a/c unit. you want a SPLIT unit. They're far more energy efficient. Here's a good one:

http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/09KLS71.html

It has a SEER of 16, far better then any window unit. It will also seal better.

Honestly, 5000 BTU's can definitely work IF you have a well insulated truck.

In my volvo 770, I used to park in the sun during the day in minneapolis, and I never got too warm with a 5000 BTU a/c.

My dad regularly runs an a/c unit, but from his batteries. It's hard on batteries, you need an AGM battery! Regular batteries WILL NOT WORK.

Allan,
I ordered a split unit for my truck when I ordered my APU. The split unit was from Soleus Air (very similar to the link you sent), and when I contacted them about how to mount it on my truck,...they said "why are you mounting this on a moving vehicle, the unit was not designed to withstand the vibration, and installing onto a moving vehicle voids all warranties"

Needless to say another complaint for A-Trans generators, but besides A-Trans and their crummy product. I'm not sure any unit similar to the Soleus Air would be a dependable unit for a moving vehicle,....or just ask the manufacturer,and see what they have to say about it.

Hey thanks for the info and links. What does APU stand for, some kind of power unit???
Doghouse sounds like the truck is your new home after selling your house.

Auxillary Power Unit.

Not the last one, I still have another one in St Petersburg for my girl and all our animals, but I am definitely setting up my truck to be a home away from home.
We are also planning to move to Flagstaff in about a year, so hopefully the housing market looks a little better by then.

Anyone know where Mutt Face lives? I'm down in Florida and have my night vision camera. Thought I would sneak over, snap some pics and post them.

I'm not sneaking over to any ones place that has Dog in his handle 8)

:) :) :)

I go away for a few days, and Steve O is trying to find my hideout,...sheesh.
I was in Flagstaff for a week,..went up to GC and did some hiking,...sure was nice to get away.

Did you BT over he-he?

get away?

holy smokes when are you gonna start working?..... :lol:

I mean,....get away from my family. They have all taken my decision to wait for my house sale to close. They call me for everything under the sun. So, I hopped a plane to Vegas,...got a car and went to the canyon :) for some alone time.
Like I always say,......I can't wait to get on the road,... so I can take a 10hr break. :?

I've been lurking this forum for way over a year now, and I have to say...I think Doghouse is full of crap, just another one of those posters with the imaginery truck :shock:

Kinda reminds me of another poster who took imaginery trips and had every one on this board just waiting for the next post :wink:

As for myself...46 states in the past 10 months...as a rollin' secretary. I've witnessed all the good and bad, and all the "tales", and guys, let me tell you, I think Doghouse has got u guys "dogged" :?

You hit the nail on the head pal. I'm pretty sure his real name is Novacane. I was in Florida and tried to look him up at the address I was given. All I found was a beat up 1976 Ford Bronco with huge diesel pipes sticking out, a camper stuck in the bed and a bumper sticker that read "Mess with me and you mess with the whole trailer park". The smell of Dinty Moore Beef Stew filled the air.

I found his address on a door, 999. I hesitated for a minute until I realized the nails had come ajar and his true address was 666. This, was a sign. I turned and walked away knowing I at least tried but knew this was not to be.

I suggest you give it up and....Walk Away.

:D Hi Steve!

I've also been following your posts from the very beginning, and you are amazing! You REALLY DID IT!! The only thing I have yet to see is a pic of YOU! Your rig is really nice, and you actually have pics to prove it, with your name and everything... 8) Nothing imaginery there! Good luck to you!

hey,I like that stuff and spam too.

Steve, BTW, have you really met tootie in person? :roll:

No,..really, I do have a truck,...I do have a truck :lol: :lol: , but I'm partial to Spaghetti O's.
That Ford Bronco has been in my family ever since my Mom dated a guy with an El Camino that had stacks coming up through the bed (and air shocks).

I have met Tootie and her husband Bo at the Iowa80 truckstop although I talked to them for about 5 minutes and started puking. ( I had food poisening).

Hey Milke, have you ever tried slicing Spam then frying it a bit on each side? Makes an awesome snack for kids, they love it!

Here's a pic of me.

http://www.btiserver.com/steve/me.jpg

fried in a pan served on bread with mayo......damn now I'm hungry,

btw my first car was an El Camino.....lol

Geez steve when I saw you you were much thinner....Maybe it was the food poisoning!!

Cant wait to get back out there again.....real soon!!

Hey Doghouse....Flagstaff is really pretty and if I was going to live in AZ it would be there!! Too expensive there for us!! We are not going to stay here in this part of NC either....maybe TN....who knows.

tootie

Come on now, I'm sucking it in too!!! I'll bet that rat bastard husband Bo of your's eat's anything he wants and never puts on weight!!!

Come and listen to a story about a man named Bo
A poor truckin man, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was driving down the road,
And a sign said Bo get an OTR job.

Trucking that is, Kenworth gold, Texas tea.

Well the first thing you know ol' Bo's got the bug,
Tootie said Bo we gotta drive away from here
Said on the road is the place you ought to be
So they loaded up the truck and drove to Beverly.

Hills, that is.
Swimmin pools, Western Stars.

Fire up the truk mama....we're headin out... My avatar just couldn't resist joining in on the chorus :P

<--------

Yep...cant wait to be rolling again!! :lol: BUT due to the busy season of MY business is going to take off. I have to wait till Jan to go with him :cry: But I love doing my business and it just keeps getting bigger every year!! :wink:

Yeah, Tootie Flagstaff/Williams is nice, but Flag is expensive like you said, so I'll probably end up near Williams. I don't mind,..its a stones throw from GC so I'll be happy as all get out.

Now,......Steve O,......you look like a normal person, I thought you would have some hair on that face,...at least a cheesy Burt Reynolds/porn star mustache,.....go figure :roll:

I spent the day learning how to change a flat,..(inside dual) its not too hard as long as you do it in the right order,...o yeah,..and put it back on the axel before you air it up fully. I remember years ago,..that story about a tire killing a guy,........ :shock:

What, are you nuts. My father fought in 3 battles and was an army drill instructor for 30 years. It was crew cuts and military college for me. I can still bounce a quarter on my bed after it's made.

I saw burt reynolds on my way to a party in jupiter farms FL saturday night, I wanted to run the bastard over but my better judgement (read wife) talked me out of it.

OMG I thought that God only made one of those....Bo is the same way with bedmaking....cleaning....ect. Drives me NUTS!! I am not dirty but I can be messy....I never understood why you put something away if you are going to use it again....in an hour.... :wink:

tootie